Even in these times art is holding value. This is the record breaking Yves Saint Laurent art auction in Paris could be summed up as “Riches from Rags”. The bidders brought in $261 million for a collection that showed the couturier had an eye for fine art that rivaled his infallible instinct for fashion.

During this “sale of the century,” a Henri Matisse vase went for $40.6 million, the highest amount paid for any of the French artist’s work, but a Pablo Picasso piece from the cubist period, considered the most valuable piece went unsold.

Over his lifetime Laurent collected 733 pieces. Isn’t it wonderful that Laurent’s partner, Pierre Berge will donate most of the profits to HIV/AIDS research?

Berge quoted the writer Edmond de Goncourt’s sentiment that he did not want art ending up in “the cold tomb of a museum.”

Other big-ticket items bought included a Piet Mondrian painting, “Composition With Blue, Red, Yellow and Black,” went for $24 million, and a sculpture by the Romanian Constantin Brancusi, a work titled “Madame L.R.” dating between 1914 and 1917, sold for a record $36 million.